Lara Hightower

Features Reporter

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Recent Stories

It almost seems like fate that Bernice and Bryan Hembree met. The voices behind the popular and critically lauded musical duo Smokey and the Mirror blend beautifully while harmonizing, as though meant to be. As two-thirds of the team behind the Fayetteville Roots Festival -- their friend and partner Jerrmy Gawthrop is the other third -- it's obvious they work exceedingly well together. And the way they met was one of the most "small world" moments imaginable: A young man with whom Bernice attended high school in Mena met Bryan at Oxford while he was on a Fulbright Scholarship in England.

‘Vox Femina II’ gives voice to women

Arts Center of the Ozarks will be featuring the exhibit "Vox Femina II" through March 28. This will be the second time Autumn Brown and Eve Smith, ACO's director of visual arts, have co-curated an all-female art exhibit. Both women agree that increasing exposure for female artists is crucial.

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is coming to Arts Live -- but director Jason Suel says the story of the eerie headless horseman might lack just a little of the scare power it has packed in other renditions of the legendary tale, thanks to Mark Landon Smith's witty adaptation.

New theater company debuts in Fayetteville

"In the Middle of Nowhere," a play written by former University of Arkansas professor and theater department chairman Kent Brown, "really struck a chord" with Terry Vaughan and Tim Gilster, the husband-and-wife team behind the newly formed theater collective, The Smokehouse Players.

Classic from 17th century asks relevant 2018 questions

University of Arkansas Theatre's Jeremiah Albers is directing the department's production of the 17th century Spanish classic "Life Is a Dream," written by Pedro Calder&#243;n de la Barca. It's something he never would have predicted upon his first reading of the play as an undergraduate: He hated it, he says, finding it "too talky" and "heavy-handed." It wasn't until he was cast in a production of the Spanish Golden Age drama several years later that he fell in love with the work.

When Stephen Karam's "The Humans" debuted on stage in the fall of 2015, it created quite a sensation: The New York Times called it a "haunting, beautifully realized play," and it won four Tony Awards -- including Best Play -- and was a Pulitzer Price finalist. Karam helped bring the show to Northwest Arkansas' TheatreSquared, and we had an opportunity to ask the playwright a few questions about his work.

Black History Month events expand in scope, area

Efforts by individuals and organizations in Northwest Arkansas are under way to make sure that Black History month -- a celebration whose roots stretch back to 1926 -- is properly recognized and serves as an educational opportunity to encourage diversity and inclusion in the community.

Thinking fast, looking forward

Fayetteville attorney and Arkansas Bar president-elect Suzanne Clark has a history of making careful decisions with an eye to the future. It's a habit that stretches back to her teenage years, when she decided not to run for senior class president -- despite having served as president her junior year -- because she didn't want the responsibility of organizing class reunions years down the road.

The 1977 album "Rumors" -- a brutally honest, tumultuous musical history of the romantic entanglements of the members of Fleetwood Mac -- remains one of the best-selling albums of all time, with sales reaching over 45 million worldwide. Fans of the album who live in Northwest Arkansas will be in for a rare treat when the Walton Arts Center hosts the Classic Albums Live production of the beloved album tonight.

Bentonville man’s work graces cover of magazine

Bill Petrunich and his wife, Phyllis, of Bentonville have willingly put themselves in the path of Alaskan brown bears and wild African animals -- all in the name of art. Bill Petrunich is a nature photographer, a title that has been nearly six decades in the making, but one he now can wear proudly. Nearly 40 of his photographs have been published in 13 issues of the publication Nature Photography. In fact, his photo graces the cover of the fall and winter, 2017-2018, edition of the magazine.